Years of remodelling the welfare state, the rise of technology, and the growing power of neoliberal government apparatuses have established a society of the precarious. In this new reality, productivity is no longer just a matter of labour, but affects the formation of the self, blurring the division between personal and professional lives. Encouraged to believe ourselves flexible and autonomous, we experience a creeping isolation that has both social and political impacts, and serves the purposes of capital accumulation and social control.

In State of Insecurity, Isabell Lorey explores the possibilities for organization and resistance under the contemporary status quo, and anticipates the emergence of a new and disobedient self-government of the precarious.

Reviews

“A welcome short companion to critical debates on precarity, precariousness and precarization … Its first immediate value is that of bringing to anglophone audiences a collection of short and incisive texts that offer valuable insights into both critical debates and political practice on precarity, particularly around European networks and platforms.”

“The important contribution of this thoughtful work is to let us understand finally that precarity is not a passing or episodic condition, but a new form of regulation that distinguishes this historical time.”

Celebrating #WomenInTranslation month at Verso, we are highlighting international editions of Verso books by women whose writing has made an impact around the world.

The second in our series showcases Precarious Life: The Powers of Mourning and Violence by Judith Butler, an impassioned response to the wars of post-9/11 America and a call for solidarity in shared precariousness across borders, now available in French, Italian, Turkish, Swedish, Chinese and Japanese translated editions since first publication by Verso in 2004.